I told my friend Somnath to see about a book-case, then dhotis, then kingkhap crown-pieces – till he was quite muddled – no wonder. So in the end I obliterated all orders and said prophetically I would write later.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 2. 1934 — 1935
Letter ID: 636
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
October 20, 1935
Mother,
Well you did look very sweet I admit, but you said you wanted a time-piece to Somnath on his pressing to know what he could make you a cadeau of. But when I made that enquiry you didn’t say anything and now see what plight I am in – moving heaven and earth to think up something that may at once please you and serve you. Amiya suggested a toilet-box, Sahana – kingkhap1 pieces for crown. I think of a revolving book-case. Qu’en dites-vous? And for Sri Aurobindo say a Shantipuri dhuti2 very fine stuff costing Rs.30 say? Qu’en dites-vous? For Supra’s sake do say something if only to smash Silence which so terrifies all good souls.
Well, when you wrote, the clocks were not needed, for there were three going merrily together though giving quite different times. But since then there has been a débacle and Somnath appeared as a providential saviour, so he was asked to fish us out of the difficulty.
Mother suggests that the book-case might do, but as it will perhaps take up all the money, you could make it a joint present (a jugal murti present, so to speak). What do you say?
I told my friend Somnath to see about a book-case, then dhotis, then kingkhap crown-pieces – till he was quite muddled – no wonder. So in the end I obliterated all orders and said prophetically I would write later.
But then what to write about? Ah, that is the question of questions! To please a Mother that only smiles but speaks not and a Guru who only fences and puzzles and bewilders a poor mental śiṣya out of his human wits!!
Well, what are human wits except to be puzzled till they don’t know where they are? It is only when they are reduced to that condition that there is some chance of their clutching at the tail of the Supramental.
Quite sympathise with your bashfulness under such a bombardment of compliments – you must feel worse off than Ras [Sayoun?] in Abyssinia3 though perhaps with less inclination to retreat and hide yourself in the desert. But what do you think of Krishnaprem’s Upanishadic sentences about the “Light that sees”; it does not puzzle your “poor human wits”? As for Dhurjati, well, every mind has its day – of discovery that “mind is not enough”, and he must have been expending his so lavishly that the development is not surprising. The rest lies on the knees of the gods and I suppose the gods will see to it.
1 Kingkhap: a jewellery box lined with velvet.
2 Shantipuri dhuti: a very fine handloom cloth (dhuti worn by Bengali men), with a black or a golden border, made in Shantipur, Nadia, West Bengal, worn by Sri Aurobindo on Darshan days.
3 Maybe an allusion to the invasion of Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) by Italy in October 1935.